The invention relates generally to a spinning button necklace toy. More particularly, the invention relates to a safe spinning button necklace toy with a knotless string loop and a protective casing that eliminates a strangulation hazard but does not interfere with the operation of the toy.
One of the oldest toys known is a button spinner. Archeologists have even found an ancient version of the toy, a piece of bone tied with a strip of hide. Often a grandparent will use an odd button and string to make the button spinner to amuse a restless child, passing the tradition of the toy from generation to generation. Many a child remembers a button or token and a string as the primary spinning toy of their youth.
Button spinners are simple toys that even a young child with limited small motor skills can enjoy. To build a button spinner, a string or heavy thread is looped through two opposing holes of the button, and the ends tied together. The button is spun around until the strings are completely twisted on both sides. The strings are pulled taut causing the button to spin. The button will spin rapidly as the string unwinds. The angular momentum of the button will cause the strings to twist again in the opposite direction.
Parents today are vigilant about the toys their young children play owing to the fact that so many toys having been recalled as choking and strangulation hazards. The traditional button spinner with the exposed strings poses a strangulation hazard to young children, similar to venetian blind loop cords. The button moves freely along the string and moving the button to one side of the string and separating the strings creates a large opening that a child can place over his or her head. If the button is caught or pulled, the string tightens around the child's neck, choking the child.
Numerous modifications in the shape and configuration of the button spinner to produce different patterns when it spins or different sounds have been proposed. Some have placed holes with reeds to make whistling noises, or metal balls in a hollow in the spinner to make rattling noises. Some have added lights to the spinner or a second spinner. Many have added handles knotted to the string to make use easier. None of these modifications have been proposed to make the toy safer.
Others have developed different ways to use the toy beyond creating a delightful pattern of spinning and noise making. One modification turns the spinner into a weapon for combat play and other turns the spinner into a wheel for choosing a random result. None of these proposed modifications decreases the strangulation hazard.
One has suggested that a pair of knots, each halfway between the end of the string and the button spinner would make the toy safer, but knots in the strings change the twisting pattern of the string whether the knot is adjacent to the handle or disposed somewhere on the length of the string.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.